Friday, September 04, 2015

Can't Get Away From the King

Hey! Remember when I got burned out on reading about King James? Are you still talking about it around the old office water cooler? Well, I kind of knew he would pop up in this LIVES OF THE NECROMANCERS anyway, because he had lots of thoughts and opinions about witches and demons. He was against them! But guess what! You know that book about King James that I finally kind of gave up on? It was the one about the scandalous murderous poisoning case during his reign. Well, even that scandalous murderous poisoning case appears in LIVES OF THE NECROMANCERS! Can't get away from you, can I, King James? I was surprised - because LIVES OF THE NECROMANCERS came out in 1834 - that Godwin mentions "a beautiful young man, twenty years of age" whom King James liked because "King James was singularly partial to young men who were distinguished for personal attractions" - but I should have learned not to be surprised by now. People were never as square as you think. They knew what was up! I think it's the Dickens novel MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT that directly mentions the Sally Hemings/Thomas Jefferson relationship. That surprised me too, as I recall. I haven't read or thought of MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT in fifteen years or more, so don't hold me to anything. I remember thinking (maybe) that MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT would be good if they took out all the Martin Chuzzlewit parts. Kind of like THE COTTON CLUB would have been better without Richard Gere and Diane Lane. No offense to either actor! But I believe MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT also featured a lovelorn organist named Tom Pinch who... I can't remember what his deal was, and anyway, forget it. I probably bore myself even more than I bore you. I am no longer as sure as I may have been back then that there should be a movie called TOM PINCH.